How do Italians feel about Mob movies?
As most people who like and go to the movies a great deal (or watch a lot of television) know, Hollywood has a strange fascination for movies about gangsters. And while there are films and TV shows that focus on such figures as Meyer Lansky, John Dillinger, Dwight Schultz, and other non-Italian-Americans, the most famous ones involve folks like Alphonse (Al) Capone and fictional characters such as Don Vito Corleone.
With movies such as Goodfellas and The Godfather Saga that delve into the not-so-nice doings of the Mafia (la Cosa Nostra) in the U.S. and Italy being so legendary, how do Italians in Italy feel about them? Do they feel that filmmakers tell too many stories of capos, consiglieri and dons? Are such movies unfairly stereotypical? Are they too cartoony and exaggerated? Or are they in some way a window into the dark side of Italian/Sicilian society?
As most people who like and go to the movies a great deal (or watch a lot of television) know, Hollywood has a strange fascination for movies about gangsters. And while there are films and TV shows that focus on such figures as Meyer Lansky, John Dillinger, Dwight Schultz, and other non-Italian-Americans, the most famous ones involve folks like Alphonse (Al) Capone and fictional characters such as Don Vito Corleone.
With movies such as Goodfellas and The Godfather Saga that delve into the not-so-nice doings of the Mafia (la Cosa Nostra) in the U.S. and Italy being so legendary, how do Italians in Italy feel about them? Do they feel that filmmakers tell too many stories of capos, consiglieri and dons? Are such movies unfairly stereotypical? Are they too cartoony and exaggerated? Or are they in some way a window into the dark side of Italian/Sicilian society?
